O is for Oak

The white oak has leaves with rounded lobes.

Significance and abbreviations

O is the fifteenth letter of the alphabet and the fourth vowel.

O is the human blood type of universal donors.

O is the chemical symbol of the element oxygen.

O’ as a prefix for a surname is the Irish abbreviation for “of the family”.

o’ stands for “of” in contractions such as “o’clock” and “man-o’-war”.

OK stands for okay and means that everything is all right.

OK is also the state postal code for Oklahoma, USA.

O levels (ordinary levels) was a level of secondary school examinations, part of the General Certificate of Education (GCE) in parts of the United Kingdom. It was replaced by the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in 1988. O levels are the equivalent to Grade 10 in Canada.

ON is the official provincial postal code for Ontario, Canada.

O.R. or OR is the abbreviation for Operating Room.

OR is also the official postal code for Oregon, USA.

Oz is slang for anything Australian.

Oz is also the mythical country and city portrayed in the film, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

oz. is an abbreviation for “onza”, Italian for ounce, a unit of measurement.

Some O words

off

oil

one

only

option

orb

ouch, ow!

out

over

owe 

Exercises

1. Identify more abbreviations, acronyms, and codes starting with the letter O.
2. In the list of “Some O Words,” which have a hard O, a soft O, or a diphthong?

Special reading assignment

 

1. Out and about the house. [Americans laugh at the way Canadians say this phrase. How do you say it?]
2. Have you ever seen an ostrich swallow an orange?
3. The royal or pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) is the national tree of England, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Latvia, and Estonia. Other species of oak represent Germany, Ireland, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, the United States, and Wales.

 

 

N is for Nut

These horse chestnuts were found on the ground under a tree. The squirrels had opened the bristly husks.

The sound of N

The letter N is a nasal consonant which may take on a nasal vowel sound when combined with g or k.

thin, win

thing, wing

think, wink

 

Silent Ns

The letter N is silent when it follows an M at the end of a word.

autumn, column, condemn, damn, hymn, solemn

Here is a word where the N is sometimes silent, depending on the dialect of the speaker.

government

 

Letter combinations

A common letter combination is —ing, a suffix with a nasal n sound and a silent g.

singing, thinning, winking, wing

 

Double Ns

Words with double nn indicate that the preceding vowel is short or soft.

annual, banner, bonnet, cannot, inner, penny

This rule applies when, in saying the word, the stress is placed on that vowel.

When the stress is on another part of the word, the n is generally single.

inhabit, combination, silent

            Exceptions:

English is very inconsistent in this rule.

These words have an unexpected single n after a short vowel.

anvil, banish, canopy, energy, finish, honey

These words have an unexpected double nn, even though the stress in saying the word is not on the preceding vowel.

anniversary, connect, personnel, questionnaire

 

Confusing N words

narthex

narwhal

nasturtium

nasty

Neanderthal

necessary

negligence

neighbour [neighbor, US]

 

Exercises

1. Look in a text, a book, or an article on the Internet, for words containing a double-N. How are they pronounced?
2. Look up the “Confusing N Words” for their definitions. Then use each of them in a sentence.

 

Special reading assignment

Numbers of narwhals are now never known near Norway at night.

 

This blog post is an excerpt from a book, English Manual: Letter by Letter, to be published soon.

 

B is for Basswood

Basswoods are often planted as an ornamental tree along city streets.

Things that are important often have more than one name. The basswood tree has a number of names, in part derived from how the tree is used and in part derived from other languages. Each name provides a different emphasis or connotation.

The name “basswood” refers to the tree as a source of bast, the flexible inner bark used as a fibre for matting.

The same tree was once called “teil”, now “tilleul”. This name also describes the pale yellow-green colour of the flowers and bracts that make a popular tea, especially in France. An effective darning stitch, called “gris-tilleul”, reflects the shape of the flowers and bracts.

There are around thirty species growing in temperate climates. The scientific name, genus Tilia, derives from the old name for tree, “teil”. Two common species are Tilia americana and T. europaea.

In England, the tree is called a “lime tree”, although it is in no way related to the citrus lime tree.

“Linden” was originally an adjective meaning “made from lime wood”. The wood itself is soft and easy to carve, unlike many other deciduous trees. Now linden is another name for the basswood tree.

Later on we will discuss synonyms, different terms used to describe similar things.